after typing startx... the display goes black like normal then when normally X would be displayed, all sorts of characters are frozen on the screen (some in color). This locks the entire computer (if ssh an kill -9 x's PID, control resumes).

the drivers install like normal. they modprobe correctly.

I've tried several versions of the driver, several versions of X, and several versions of kernel. even completly reinstalled once.

I've tried agpgart and nvagp.

at the moment i am using vesa driver, because i need a computer. however, without the nvidia drivers, i am lacking several features i need.

I found the solution to fixing all nvidia problems.... switch to an ATI card. sure i've seen ppl go off on here about goto a card that is supported less... blah blah blah. all the support i've seen for this card is "ummm.... i dunno... did you modprobe nvidia". Like that's any help.

my company may only sell a few hundred machines a year, but i assure you they will ALL have ATI cards now instead of nvidia.

Originally posted by jmahler I found the solution to fixing all nvidia problems.... switch to an ATI card. sure i've seen ppl go off on here about goto a card that is supported less... blah blah blah. all the support i've seen for this card is "ummm.... i dunno... did you modprobe nvidia". Like that's any help.

my company may only sell a few hundred machines a year, but i assure you they will ALL have ATI cards now instead of nvidia.

Oh really, then good luck with your ATI cards and make sure you take a couple of packs of headache tablets.

after typing startx... the display goes black like normal then when normally X would be displayed, all sorts of characters are frozen on the screen (some in color). This locks the entire computer (if ssh an kill -9 x's PID, control resumes).

the drivers install like normal. they modprobe correctly.

I've tried several versions of the driver, several versions of X, and several versions of kernel. even completly reinstalled once.

I've tried agpgart and nvagp.

at the moment i am using vesa driver, because i need a computer. however, without the nvidia drivers, i am lacking several features i need.

on a side note... the LG GSA-4040B dvd burner works amazingly well in linux with dvd+rw-tools for those that are wondering, I personally have had bad experience with dvdrecord (competitor of dvd+rw-tools). burns a full DVD in about 13 minutes (4x).

yes I have read that you have done a modprobe, but you know some people are beginner (I am too), and sometime, they do the modprobe or insmod, and it's not working for another reason, so they reboot and they forgot to insert the module again. and it's not working... sorry...

now than I know more about you, and I'm sure that the driver is loaded all I can say is that is your card is working (test it under windows, because I had a ti200 geforce 3 that was working really well in 2D mode and crashing in 3D mode)....

update your motherboard bios

what is the chipset of your motherboard ? is it recognised ? -> lspci -v

you have tried 2 debian but SID...why not using a stable version ?
I personaly run under woody debian with a geforce4mx 440 and a KT400 chipset from VIA and you can believe me it was hard for me to get it working...

so don't panic, we will find a solution.
take a paper, write all you are doing and I'm sure that if you're card is supported by the driver it will work.

don't hesitate to post what you do, maybe someone will have an idea. reply to the questions....